so much wealth is locked up in old people's estates, or gets sluiced into "passive income" rackets for do-nothing rentiers. there's an increasing sense that most risks won't pay out, so fuck trying. it is gradually percolating into a form of nihilism that i really don't look forward to seeing develop.

the whole trump thing is illustrative of that in a way. instead of "the elites" taking note and thinking "damn, a lot of people out there are hopeless and mad - we should be careful here" they got mad at his voters for their impudence, and immediately pursued a soft coup to neuter him. they clearly hold the general public in total contempt, and would probably gun them down if they had the opportunity.

The real futurist view of the economy has to deal with a world where 20% of the people do the work to implement and check on the various robot and AI delivered labors, and the other 80% get a universal basic income permanent welfare and we somehow keep the 80% from breeding. We won't need or want growth or productivity at that point, so there has to be a coinciding de-leveraging process, and a prolonged, multi-generational contraction. I know you guys will say this is my answer to everything, but weed and sex robots figure prominently in my vision of the future.

It will be cheaper to kill them with their own sloth. The prospect of all out war in the nuclear age is a false hypothetical, and the odds of launching a mass ground invasion of some foreign land in the 21st century are also slim to none. The U.S., with all its resources and technical advantages, couldn't win against shitty little countries like Vietnam and Iraq.

Cr. Nobody ever listens when I respond to Are Reptile's bullshit about how Russia's green water navy is superior to that of the USA or whatever by explaining that the prospect of war between nuclear powers simply isn't happening. You're the first bro I've seen actually acknowledge this instead of ignoring the nuclear factor.

It's a bunch of men in a pool full of gasoline arguing about who has the most matches.

robotics will not be a permanent solution to anything, because it's far too arcane. The knowledge will be lost in the next devastating war and it's back to square one. As always, the earth will be repopulated by warriors

China will be ahead at the AI game at some point in the next 20 years and that will be the new rat race. It will be thought of as cruel and small-minded to measure a society by GDP. We will measure it by hours or work avoided/saved.